Nina Lee

If you’re still relying on manual processes for your law firm invoicing, you can create delays in your payments and opportunities for errors that can cost you money and your reputation with key clients.

Having an invoice management process is key to handling your invoices efficiently and keeping accurate financial records. 

Continue reading to learn how to create more efficient invoice management processes that save your firm’s time, get you paid faster, and provide a stellar experience for the client.

What Is Invoice Management?

Invoice management for law firms refers to the systematic and organized handling of invoicing processes within a legal practice. It encompasses various tasks such as generating, reviewing, tracking, and processing invoices to ensure accurate and timely billing. 

Effective invoice management also involves:

• Verifying the details of legal services provided (time spent, fees, and expenses incurred) 
• Reconciling invoices with client agreements and contracts
• Ensuring compliance with billing guidelines and ethical standards

By implementing efficient invoice management practices, law firms can streamline their financial operations, improve cash flow, enhance client satisfaction, and maintain transparent and accountable billing practices.

The Timeline of an Invoice

Let’s delve into the key components of effective invoice management:

Step 1: Invoice Generation

Once legal services are provided, you can generate an invoice with detailed information about your billable time, legal services, and any expenses that pass through to the client, such as expenses for court filing fees or research.

Step 2: Verification of Invoice Accuracy

 The verification stage plays a pivotal role in confirming the accuracy of invoices. It involves cross-checking the billed amounts against agreed-upon rates, contracts, and services rendered. This step helps prevent overbilling or underbilling, ensuring transparency and fairness in financial transactions. 

The invoice approval process is often owned by the accounting department in a large firm or a senior attorney. Any adjustments to the invoice are made at this stage.

Step 3: Invoice Delivery to the Client 

Once the invoices are thoroughly reviewed and verified, they need to be promptly delivered to clients. Efficient invoice management involves utilizing appropriate channels, such as email or traditional mail, to ensure clients receive their invoices in a timely manner.

Step 4: Payment and Collections Tracking 

Tracking payments and collections is an integral part of effective invoice management. This entails closely monitoring the status of invoices, tracking payments received, and identifying outstanding balances. By diligently managing these financial aspects, law firms can proactively address any delays or issues that may arise during the payment process.

Depending on your law firm’s processes, this may be by mail or email. For a more modern approach, some firms also offer online payments or a client portal where clients can make secure payments. The client then reviews the invoice and makes a payment.

Evolution of Invoice Management at Law Firms

Historically, invoice management has been a manual process for law firms – record time, prepare invoices with billing entries, rates, and expenses, approve them, send them to the client, and get paid. However, it was rarely as simple or smooth as it should be and still isn’t in many firms.

Increased adoption of technology, the need for efficiency, and client demands have forced the largely traditional legal industry to shift its practices. Automation, in particular, offers an opportunity for law firms to streamline their processes and reduce errors in the invoicing process. This creates more accurate and timely bills that also improve client confidence and retention. 

Benefits of Automated Invoice Management

Automated invoice management offers many advantages for law firms and their clients. Here are some of the key benefits:

Reduces Manual Entry

The legal industry relies on a lot of manual processes, but they’re often time consuming and prone to error. Staff members can spend a lot of time with manual entry – sometimes resulting in double entry – that pulls them away from other tasks that they need to complete.

Bill4Time takes care of this process with automated time tracking and invoice templates to free staff time to focus on more critical tasks. It also closes the gap between the many parties involved in invoice management, reducing the risk of error and keeping everyone on the same page.

Improves Accuracy

Automated invoice management ensures accuracy by following predetermined rules to enforce billing guidelines and policies. When invoices are more accurate, the client has a better experience and fewer disputes that lead to wasted time or delays in payment.

In addition, when clients have accurate invoices, it builds trust in your firm and your services. In return, you can build positive word-of-mouth recommendations from current and past clients to generate new leads and fuel future growth.

Use Less Paper

Paper methods are expensive, cumbersome, and error prone. It’s easy for paper documents to be misplaced, not to mention that you need to search through documents to monitor and track invoices. 

With Bill4Time, you can generate, store, and deliver invoices on the same platform. Once an invoice is generated in Bill4Time, simply send it via email or the client portal. 

Simplified Payment Tracking

Once an invoice is delivered, it can feel like a waiting game until the payment is submitted. There are many variables that go into the timeline of when an invoice is paid by the client, so it’s important to have a standardized billing policy and proper collections processes.

The best way to easily track payment status and ensure your firm is paid on time is to adopt online payments. Bill4Time Payments is an online payment processor built in the BillTime platform. The same place your invoice was generated, is the same place you’ll process and allocate clients payments. 

With Bill4Time Payments, you’ll have access to OneLink, which allows your firm to create custom payment links to add to invoices, emails, or your website. Clients can use a laptop, tablet or mobile device to submit to their invoice payment front anywhere. 

As payments are submitted, use Bill4Time Payments robust payments dashboard to review the status of all your invoices. 

Robust Invoice Reports

A centralized invoice management system keeps all your invoicing and payment information in one place to stay on top of your business finances. 

With Bill4Time, you can generate robust reports to track all aspects of your firm’s billing. This includes time and expense, invoice balances and payment activity, and balance adjustments and more! 

Having a process of reporting on your firm’s financial health can help identify gaps and opportunities for your law firm.

Final Thoughts

If you’re still relying on manual processes that leave room for major errors and delays that only cost your firm in the long and short term, there’s a better way. Bill4Time’s law firm invoicing software has the modern features to streamline your invoicing process, save time, improve the client experience, and get your firm paid faster. With features like custom invoice templates, branded invoices, and automated time tracking — your firm can standardize and simplify the billing process.

Law firms use the Uniform Task-Based Management System (UTBMS) to list and categorize services on client invoices. The UTBMS comprises a coding structure to ensure each task is completed, documented, and categorized. This way, law firms can accurately gauge spending habits and quickly identify any problems that arise.

What Are ABA Task Codes?

The American Bar Association (ABA), the Association of Corporate Counsel (ACC), and PricewaterhouseCoopers (PWC) originally developed UTBMS codes, but now the Oversight Committee (OC) at Legal Electronic Data Exchange Standard (LEDES) maintains them.

The purpose of these codes is to standardize and categorize legal services and expenses, enabling law firms to easily monitor and analyze these data.

Types of ABA UTBMS Codes

ABA UTBMS codes help law firms monitor their spending habits and other related activity.

A100 Activities

Activity codes reflect the type of activity and its associated cost.

• A101 Plan and prepare for
• A102 Research
• A103 Draft/revise
• A104 Review/analyze
• A105 Communicate (in firm)
• A106 Communicate (with client)
• A107 Communicate (other outside counsel)
• A108 Communicate (other external)
• A109 Appear for/attend
• A110 Manage data/files
• A111 Other

Counseling

Counseling is a more general category. These codes account for the time lawyers spend providing legal advice.

• C100 Fact Gathering

• C200 Researching Law
• C300 Analysis and Advice
• C400 Third-Party Communication

E100 Expenses

Expenses codes will categorize your spending, enabling you to budget better.

• E101 Copying
• E102 Outside printing
• E103 Word processing
• E104 Facsimile
• E105 Telephone
• E106 Online research
• E107 Delivery services/messengers
• E108 Postage
• E109 Local travel
• E110 Out-of-town travel
• E111 Meals
• E112 Court fees
• E113 Subpoena fees
• E114 Witness fees
• E115 Deposition transcripts
• E116 Trial transcripts
• E117 Trial exhibits
• E118 Litigation support vendors
• E119 Experts
• E120 Private investigators
• E121 Arbitrators/mediators
• E122 Local counsel
• E123 Other professionals
• E124 Other

L100 Case Assessment, Development, and Administration

Toward the beginning of using UTBMS codes, combining L100 with activity codes is typical.

• L110 Fact Investigation/Development
• L120 Analysis/Strategy
• L130 Experts/Consultants
• L140 Document/File Management
• L150 Budgeting
• L160 Settlement/Non-Binding ADR
• L190-Other Case Assessment, Development and Administration

L200 Pre-Trial Pleadings and Motions

Expenses codes are typically paired with these litigation codes.

• L210 Pleading
• L220 Preliminary Injunctions/Provisional Remedies
• L230 Court-Mandated Conferences
• L240 Dispositive Motions
• L250 Other Written Motions and Submissions
• L260 Class Action Certification and Notice

L300 Discovery

• L310 Written Discovery
• L320 Document Production
• L330 Depositions
• L340 Expert Discovery
• L350 Discovery Motions
• L390 Other Discovery

L400 Trial Preparation and Trial

• L410 Fact Witnesses
• L420 Expert Witnesses
• L430 Written Motions and Submissions
• L440 Other Trial Preparation and Support
• L450 Trial and Hearing Attendance
• L460 Post-Trial Motions and Submissions
• L470 Enforcement

L500 Appeal

• L510 Appellate Motions and Submissions
• L520 Appellate Briefs
• L530 Oral Argument

Project Codes

These codes categorize legal tasks for non-litigation, such as administrative work and filing. P200, specifically, focuses on the time attorneys spend investigating a case. P300 to P800 are the additional codes.

• P100 Project Administration
• P200 Fact Gathering/Due Diligence
• P210 Corporate Review
• P220 Tax
• P230 Environmental
• P240 Real and Personal Property
• P250 Employee/Labor
• P260 Intellectual Property
• P270 Regulatory Reviews
• P280 Other
• P300 Structure/Strategy/Analysis
• P400 Initial Document Preparation/Filing
• P500 Negotiation/Revision/Responses.
• P600 Completion/Closing
• P700 Post-Completion/Post-Closing
• P800 Maintenance and Renewal

Importance of Properly Tracking ABA Task Codes

Using and properly tracking UTBMS offers various benefits, such as:

• Invoice transparency: If a client receives an invoice with just a final payment amount at the bottom — they may be hesitant to pay it without a full list of services performed and expenses. Documenting every task, no matter how small helps create billing transparency.

• Organization of tasks: Managing multiple clients and tasks can be difficult to organize. Implementing the short and efficient UTBMS codes in an invoice keeps everything uniform and easily identifiable.

• Easily generating and categorizing reports: UTBMS codes make it easy to create, organize, and categorize legal tasks and expense reports.

• Monitoring billing guidelines and spending: UTBMS codes allow law firms to keep tabs on spending habits throughout the year, enabling them to identify areas for opportunity and make more informed billing decisions.

Best Practices to Track UTBMS Codes

UTBMS codes are only as effective as their proper implementation within a law firm. To ensure their usefulness, firms must establish clear and ethical billing guidelines and best practices for tracking these codes. This can be achieved by following the best practices outlined below:

• Consistently using UTBMS codes throughout the firm
• Training staff on how to properly use UTBMS codes
• Utilizing software to manage UTBMS codes and generate expense reports
• Standardizing naming conventions

By implementing these best practices, firms can:

• Set clear expectations from the outset
• Avoid confusion among staff members
• Analyze revenue generation
• Gauge client satisfaction or dissatisfaction

Legal billing software can also aid in this process by providing:

• Automated and customizable invoice templates
• Tools for tracking expenses
• Automated time tracking 
• Online payment options

Use Bill4Time for Streamlined Time and Expense Tracking

UTBMS codes help law firms categorize expenses and services performed when sending clients invoices. However, manual entry and tracking of UTMBS can make the process cumbersome. 

With Bill4Time, your firm can manage expenses, perform essential billing functions, generate invoices, and more in one place. Equipped with essential ABA UTBMS used by law firms, Bill4Time makes it easy to create naming conventions for expenses and track them with custom reports.  

Efficient billing practices are essential for the success of your law firm. However, the time spent on billing can often become time-consuming, detracting from the productive hours of your day. Furthermore, this time spent on billing is typically not included in your billable hours, resulting in potential revenue loss. 

Fortunately, there are ways to streamline your billing process and optimize your attorney billing statement, enabling you to expedite the invoicing process and ultimately enhance the profitability of your firm.

What Is an Attorney Billing Statement?

An attorney billing statement is a versatile and customizable invoice template that your law firm can utilize to bill your clients in an efficient manner. 

With an attorney billing statement, you have the flexibility to tailor the invoice to meet the specific needs and requirements of each client, ensuring that it accurately reflects the services rendered and the associated costs. 

This enables you to create professional and comprehensive invoices that clearly communicate the details of the legal services provided, the corresponding charges, and any other relevant information in a clear and concise manner.

What Is in an Attorney Billing Statement?

Your billing statement will be tailored to your firm, but in general, all invoice templates should have the following elements:

Details of the Firm and Client

The billing statement should always have the information about your law firm and your client, including:

• Names
• Addresses
• Phone numbers
• Email addresses

The Date

Including the date of issue on an invoice is crucial for proper financial management and communication with clients. It serves as a reference point for payment terms, evidences timely delivery of the invoice, streamlines communication, and supports accurate record-keeping.

Itemized Services and Costs

The most time-consuming part of an invoice is recording the details of the services and their costs. This is important, however, as clients have a better understanding of what they’re paying for and are less likely to raise disputes.

The descriptions of the services should be brief, such as “prepared documents for court” or “researched case law” with the amount of time spent on each. Lawyers traditionally track time in six-minute increments for accuracy. The costs are based on your fees, which may be flat or hourly.

Expenses

If you have expenses associated with the client’s case, such as filing fees, include them on the invoice. You’ll want to include detailed descriptions of each expense so clients understand the value add. Hard costs are often easier to communicate than soft costs that are typically associated with the administrative brunt work needed for a client case. 

Totals and Taxes

After itemizing the services, you should be able to calculate the subtotals and total easily. If you have legal billing software, these calculations may be done automatically.

Once you have the total for all the services, include the appropriate service tax for your state on the billing form. You may wish to include the tax rate and total tax amount. Then, add the subtotal and total with the tax amount for the final balance.

Statement Due Date

Putting a clear due date on your invoice is important for law firm collections and getting paid on time. If you add late fees for overdue payments, include those on the invoice as well.

Depending on the state, you may be able to assess late fees at a percentage of the invoice amount or a flat fee up to a certain amount, but be sure to check with your state bar association.

Payment Methods

Include the options for payment on your invoice. If you accept checks, provide the name and mailing address. If you have an online payment portal, include the details to simplify it for the client.

Your accepted payment methods should be discussed prior to taking on your client’s case, but it’s good to have them listed as a reminder on your invoice.

Sample Attorney Billing Statement

Here is a sample billing statement:

How to Prepare a Billing Statement for Attorneys in 4 Steps

Creating a process for billing statements makes invoicing and billing can make the processes more straightforward in the future. Here’s how:

Step 1: Set Your Fees

Your fees are usually based on competitors and what’s appropriate for your practice area, experience level, and reputation. You’ll want to research and analyze what’s fair in the market along with your firm’s value proposition. 

Step 2: Capture Time

Accurate invoices have every minute tracked accurately. With Bill4Time’s timekeeping software, you can ditch the spreadsheets and capture time in real-time with timers on your phone, desk, or tablet. This not only ensures you get paid, but it helps present more accurate information about the work you do for your clients.  

Step 3: Automate Invoicing

Create, print, or email professional invoices with Bill4Time software, complete with payment terms, late fees, discounts, and more. You can also include custom payment links on your invoices for clients to pay online. 

Step 4: Communicate with Clients

A positive client experience starts with effective communication at intake. Proactively communicate your invoicing and billing details in advance, including fees, schedules, payment terms, and payment methods.

3 Attorney Best Practices for Legal Billing

Billing and invoicing software like Bill4Time makes it a breeze to create a customizable billing template to free up your time. Here are some of the best practices for legal billing:

Offer Multiple Payment Options

Clients want to be able to pay using the method they’re most comfortable with, and as a result, your firm gets paid faster. With Bill4Time Payments, your clients can pay using eChecks or major credit and debit cards for the fastest and most convenient payments.

Offer Custom Payment Plans

Payment plans make it easier for clients to afford legal services by reducing large bills. Bill4Time Payments allows you to create custom payment plans with weekly or monthly installments and automated payment reminders.

Show Consistency

It’s important to set up billing expectations with your clients from the start. You should communicate your billing timelines and send your invoices based on this cadence, so clients know when to expect a bill. This also ensures that your cash flow is more predictable.

Streamline Your Billing Statements

Invoicing and billing are often the most time-consuming and cumbersome part of running your law firm, but it doesn’t have to be. With law firm invoicing software, you can create a streamlined billing process that saves you time, creates a better client experience, and gets your firm paid faster.

Think about what makes your firm stand out. Quality of service or a long-standing reputation may come to mind. However, there are thousands of law firms and lawyers that do the same work you do. To increase law firm growth, it’s important to hone in on what sets your practice apart in the competitive legal field. 

With a strong value proposition, you can give your firm the competitive edge that draws clients in and sustains long-term growth. Continue reading to learn how. 

What is a value proposition?

A value proposition is a promise you make to clients about the services you will provide. It’s a persuasive, results-driven argument that gives clients a compelling reason to work exclusively with your firm. Your value proposition should be tied back to your firm’s mission and values. 

A strong value proposition is carefully crafted and very compelling. It’s comprised of four specific ingredients from your client’s perspective: 

• Appeal: What attracts clients to your firm
• Exclusivity: I can’t get this from any other law firm anywhere else
• Credibility: I believe your firm’s claims
• Clarity: I understand your firm’s claims

A strong value proposition is more than “we’re committed to serving you,” but a clear statement of the value your firm can add to your clients’ lives with defined results. 

Double law firm growth with a strong value proposition 

True uniqueness, in the form of a strong value proposition, shapes client perceptions. It helps clients filter and sort through the hundreds or thousands of firms competing for their attention and their dollars. 

Warren Buffett, the legendary investor, coined the term “economic moat.”  He defines an economic moat as the competitive advantage one firm has over its competitors. An economic moat accomplishes two things (1) It enables your firm to dominate the marketplace and (2) It keeps competitors at bay

Let’s dive into the different types of moats: 

• Brand moat. Service clients are willing to pay more because they trust your brand or believe in your reputation. Research consistently shows clients are eager to spend more on brands. Think Coca-Cola, Mercedes-Benz, Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom.
• Secret moat. This typically refers to a process or intellectual property that makes direct competition with your firm difficult. This could be your client lists, a unique approach, a proprietary database, or a unique training methodology. It’s created or developed organically and gives firms a competitive advantage in the marketplace.
• Toll moat. These are firms with exclusive or dominant control of a market or niche. This control means you’re typically the only game in town. Clients must come to you if they want “it.” Google, Comcast, and your internet and utility company are all examples of toll moats. 
• Switching moat. This refers to a firm that’s entangled in its client’s business. There are varying degrees of enmeshment. It can be as simple as being indispensable to your clients or as complex as equity stakes and co-ownership. The idea here is simple. Clients can switch at any time, per their agreement, but doing so is far more hassle than it’s worth.
• Price moat. You’re able to compete via a significant price (low or high) advantage. You’re able to provide clients with a price they’re unlikely to get anywhere else.
• Performance moat. With this moat, you’re able to produce results or outcomes your competitors can’t, and you’re able to do it consistently. You bring your experience, expertise, and knowledge to bear in a way that’s difficult for other competitors to match.

What kind of value proposition do you actually need? To maximize value and increase law firm growth, you need to create impact at two specific levels:

• The firm level: You need to give clients a specific yet compelling reason to work with your law firm. As mentioned previously, your value proposition is a promise. You’ll need to provide clients with a compelling reason to work with your firm.
• The service level: Your firm may be amazing, but what about your associates? Do they produce great work? How do clients know, in quantifiable terms, what they’re getting? A value proposition at the service level answers this question decisively.

For example:

• Developing a unique service process (e.g., hiring all-star associates, litigating, drafting documents, etc.)
• Making a compelling promise, one you’re legally able to make
• Creating a strong, trustworthy brand via consistent advertising, a powerful review profile, and branding
• Creating helpful software, and sharing it with clients free of charge
• Offering add-on services, tools, and resources to create the “golden handcuffs”
• Creating innovative-yet-legal alternative fee arrangements (e.g., fixed fee, subscription, or insurance models)

However, seeing is not the same thing as doing. How do you go about creating a compelling value proposition for your law firm?

Acting on your firm’s value proposition

A strong value proposition doesn’t come from our past, it comes from our future.

Choose the one thing you’d like your law firm to be known for. Whatever you stand for, make sure it’s one thing. Adding in too many services or promises can be difficult to manage and negatively impact quality.

Once you’ve come up with a strong value proposition, test it. A large component of sharing your value proposition is through marketing. There are a variety of simple and low-cost methods you can use to test the strength of your value proposition, including:

• Creating blog content to showcase your thought leadership and expertise
• Posting on social media to connect with your audience and network
• Using targeted advertisements to promote and attract your audience

Once you’ve deployed these methods, you’ll want to have a process in place to track and report on their performance. Based on the results or return on investment, you can determine how clients are responding to your value proposition and pivot accordingly.

While it’s important to define your value proposition and effectively promote it, having the resources to perform your services is essential. Client demands have shifted and the need for digital services is paramount. Bill4Time modernizes law firms by automating core business functions and administrative tasks that traditionally consume their days. With automated legal billing, built-in online payments, invoice templates, and more — firms can streamline repetitive processes so they can focus on areas of their business. 

Outlook on value propositions

A strong value proposition is rooted in your firm’s mission, values, and expertise. Above all, it’s about delivering on your value proposition. It’s easy to say what your firm can do, but clients want tangible results. With a strong value proposition and the right resources — your firm will be well-positioned in the legal market.

It can be an ongoing effort to get clients to pay their invoices faster or even just on time. Clients run on a different timeline than your firm, so they may not understand the moving parts involved in your invoice and billing department.

Before you start placing blame, you need to step back and analyze what obstacles your clients may be facing that are preventing them from paying their invoices on time. The issue could very well lie within your firm’s billing practices or lack thereof.

Continue reading to learn 3 simple law firm invoice practices that support clients to pay their invoices faster.

Get Your Law Firm’s Invoices Paid Faster

If your law firm’s billing isn’t in order, how can you expect your clients to be? Having a uniform, automated law firm invoice and billing process are key to setting your clients up for success.

Step 1: Communicate Your Firms Billing and Invoicing Policy

Create a clear communication plan that outlines your firm’s billing expectations. This should be discussed at the beginning of the client relationship, preferably during the client intake process. The plan should include a scope of work, billing timeline, payment options, fee arrangements, and billing point of contact. Think of common questions you get from clients that can easily be satisfied in your communication plan and build from that. This plan should also be available electronically for the client to reference.

Tip: Upload your legal billing policy document to Bill4Time so it’s accessible across your firm and can easily be sent to clients.

Step 2: Standardize Your Law Firm Invoice Process

Just like you, your clients are busy and can occasionally lose track of deadlines. Understanding that this is human nature, your firm can set up invoice payment reminders leading up to the date. For example, you could send invoice payment reminders 14 days, 7 days, and the day before the due date. Your firm should also send reminders if the invoice is late and any associated consequences or fees.

With a solution like Bill4Time, you can use features such as custom invoice templates and automatic reminders to streamline this process. Not only does standardizing your invoice process keep your clients accountable, but your firm can report on average invoice payment windows and keep a pulse on payment status.

Step 3: Offer Online Payments

Clients don’t want to waste time running to their bank or filling out physical checks. If your firm is still relying on a paper check process, it may be creating more hoops for your client to jump through. For instance, if a client is accustomed to paying online, they may not have checks easily accessible to them.

Bill4Time makes accepting online payment seamless with the built-in payment processor, Bill4Time Payments. Easily send custom payment links on emails or invoices, create payment plans, and even allow clients to pay their invoices from their client portal.

Online payments are not only a form of great customer service, but they will prompt your client to pay faster. Faster payments mean a cleaner billing cycle and increased revenue for your firm.

Streamline Your Law Firm’s Invoice Process

If your law firm is still hesitant to adopt practice management software, you may be limiting your firm’s profitability and creating obstacles for clients. Particularly when it comes to billing, closing unnecessary gaps in the paper check billing process and offering modern ways for clients to pay will ultimately lead to a higher yield of on-time invoices for your firm.

Is your staff dragged down by tedious tasks? Despite your firm’s efficiency and hard work, you and your staff have only so much time in the day to complete everything on your plate. If you’re spending too much time on administrative tasks, you’re not devoting enough time to the important stuff, like helping clients, practicing law, or growing your firm.

Many law firms face this predicament, so they turn to outsourcing legal services.

When you outsource, other businesses take on tedious tasks, such as document and task management or billing and invoicing. Some firms turn to technology like Bill4Time to “outsource” their firm’s most time-consuming tasks like case management or billing.

Law firm outsourcing saves you time and money so you can boost your firm’s productivity and direct more of your resources and energy toward clients, cases, and growth. 

What Is Legal Service Outsourcing?

Legal service outsourcing is when law firms hire other professionals and companies to take on some of the attorneys’ duties. This way, they can save time and money, allowing them to focus more on their client’s needs and improve their services and reputation.

Some tasks law firms outsource include:

• Administrative tasks, like scheduling, issuing invoices, and recording time entries
• Document management, like organizing client files and uploading important information
• Marketing, like responding to client comments and reviews or creating email marketing and social media posts

What you want to outsource is up to you. Your firm can analyze where you commonly see bottlenecks, missed opportunities to get cases, and more to determine what you need help with most. Additionally, the businesses that handle these tasks can customize how they serve you.

How Often Do Law Firms Outsource Legal Services?

Law firms are outsourcing legal services, and that trend is only on the rise. In 2021, a Reuters survey of small law firms found that 26% of respondents had implemented technology to address pressures and improve their services’ efficiency. Additionally, 19% want to use technology more to outsource and improve some of their firm’s operations. 

More law firms are looking into optimizing their services as they realize they need more support with payroll, case research, and billing. In a short time, the practice of outsourcing legal services will likely expand significantly.

Is Legal Outsourcing the Same as Offshoring?

The short answer: No.

However, they do relate to each other. Legal outsourcing occurs when you contract a specific task or tasks to a third party that works in that field. For example, if you need help with setting up your billing and invoicing templates, you would hire a company that offers specific aid in that area.

On the other hand, when you participate in offshoring, you’re sending your in-house jobs overseas to complete your work remotely—at times, for a lesser cost. For instance, if you’re in the United States and want assistance with producing high-tech devices, you may offshore this work to reduce labor costs. 

Benefits of Legal Service Outsourcing

Hiring a team for legal service outsourcing comes with plenty of benefits, including:

• It’s cost-effective: Generally speaking, it’s cheaper to have someone who works outside the law firm complete certain services for you. That is, it can help keep your overhead and staffing costs on the lower end.

• Supplement your systems when your resources are limited: Sometimes, law firms don’t have the necessary technology to complete certain tasks. For example, you may not have a system for timekeeping. Outsourcing your services to another company that has a program designed for timekeeping can save you time and money, as you won’t have to dedicate extra hours to handle it on your own.

• The ability to support more clients: When you’re preoccupied with menial tasks for much of your day, it can take time away from your clients. As a result, your brand and reputation may take a hit, especially if your clients are overcharged, or you lose their information.

Types of Legal Service Outsourcing Processes

Legal services outsourcing isn’t limited to one type of process. Depending on what your firm needs, the company may tailor its services to how your firm operates. Typically, law firms may seek assistance with:

Billing

Inform the company about the payment structure you use. Flat fees? Hourly? Contingency? 

Whatever the case, the company to whom you outsource can create and customize an invoice template and set up the terms for online payments and late fees.

This feature allows the client to pay you with one click. That way, it’s convenient for the client, and you receive your payment right away.

Filing and Document Management

Uploading documents into a cloud-based system allows you and your staff to easily access data and other controls at any time. That way, you don’t spend hours remaking documents and searching for client folders.

If you need to move things around, rename, or customize documents, you can. These features should be flexible and mesh with your firm’s current needs.

E-Discovery

Thanks to e-discovery technology, law firms can easily identify and collect important data for cases. Not to mention, e-discovery can help you with your document management, such as scanning your uploads.

It makes these documents more accessible to their clients and saves their memory and time.

Administrative Tasks

Legal services outsourcing can also take care of your administrative tasks. The contracting company can manage aspects of your client relationships, bookkeeping, timekeeping, and even phone calls.

You don’t need a full-time employee to be responsible for these tasks when someone else outside your firm can perform them for a fraction of the cost.

How to Hire for Legal Service Outsourcing

If you’re looking for legal consultants or freelance workers to assist you with your legal services, check out these websites:

• Lawyerist
• Fiverr
• Guru

While you’re searching for the right fit, think about the qualities that will add to your firm’s success, like:

• Experience: How long have they been in the business? What was their training like? Who have they worked for?
• Skill: What are they capable of? How much of a workload can they handle? What do they prioritize at work? Do they have any specializations or certificates in certain areas?
• Familiarity with legal technology: Many contractors continue their education to keep up with the latest technology. Have they listed what they have expertise in? For instance, see if they know how to manage legal billing and invoicing, timekeeping, and task management using legal software.

Narrow down your top two or three favorite candidates. Don’t just consider their past but also their potential.

When Should I Consider Outsourcing the Legal Services at My Firm?

If you’re not sure if you should look into legal process outsourcing services, reflect on the well-being of your firm.

You may want to consider the extra help if you’re experiencing:

• Overwhelming caseload: If you’re taking on more than you can handle on your own
• Decreased client experience: If you’ve received client complaints, especially about errors in their invoices or lost documents
• Tasks falling through the cracks: If you find yourself putting off sending invoices, uploading client documents, or reminding your clients to pay you

Simplify Outsourcing With Legal Technology

You don’t have to take care of all your practice’s tasks on your own. Help is available, and it doesn’t have to be complicated. Don’t be intimidated about having someone work remotely for you. You can easily manage their tasks, especially when your firm’s most crucial documents, billing records, and customer information is housed in a central location.

When you have Bill4Time on your side, you can outsource many time-consuming legal services—like billing, invoicing, timekeeping, and other tasks—using a single software system. It’s easy to use, efficient, and affordable. That way, you spend less time dealing with tedious tasks and focus more on your clients. Request a demo with us today.